That Monday Feeling
by Erin Giles
Summary: Ianto, as a rule, wasn't accustomed to hating any particular day of the week. Granted, some days were worse than others, but this particular morning he had developed a newfound dislike for Mondays. Especially when this Monday didn't seem to want to end.
1. Chapter 1

**Title**: That Monday Feeling  
**Author**: Erin Giles  
**Characters/Pairings**: Jack/Ianto, Gwen/Rhys, Capt John Hart, OCs  
**Rating**: R  
**Warnings**: Character Death (not permanent), Suicide, Swearing  
**A/N**: Set in my Footprints in the Sand Universe. The rest of the series doesn't need to be read for this story to make sense. All is explained in the body of the text. Thank you to my cheerleaders (those with and without pom-poms). Also a special thanks to my flatmate who reminded me to write this when I forgot.  
**Summary**: Slight AU. Ianto, as a rule, wasn't accustomed to hating any particular day of the week. Granted, some days were worse than others, but this particular morning he had developed a newfound dislike for Mondays. Especially when this Monday didn't seem to want to end.

* * *

**Monday 2nd February, 7:13**

It was just after seven on Monday morning when Ianto Jones finished his working day and lay his head down on his pillow. He'd managed to divest himself of one shoe and his jacket before he'd given up on the notion of going to bed in pyjamas and just lay down. If he was honest, he was amazed he'd made it upstairs.

Ianto, as a rule, wasn't accustomed to hating any particular day of the week. Granted, some days were worse than others, but this particular morning he had developed a newfound dislike for Mondays. It would have been fine if the one thing to go wrong that morning was his sister slamming open his bedroom door, but it was to only be the alarm call of the definition of That Monday Feeling.

His sister was already moving towards the curtains to pull them back before she realised Ianto had yet to close them, the rain hammering out a doomed anthem on the window.

'I need you to take the kids to school this morning,' Rhiannon told him as she stood framed in the doorway. Ianto could already hear his niece running up and down the hallway while his nephew grumbled about how early it was.

'The movers will be here in an hour and I need to go over to Ryan's and give him the spare set of keys before that.'

Ianto blinked a couple of times. He'd forgotten that it was the day his sister moved out of his house and into her own place. She and the kids had been living with him for nearly five years now, something that had only ever been a temporary arrangement when she and her husband had split up. But temporary had quickly turned into free babysitting from his sister's point of view and a live in cook cum cleaner from Ianto's. Now she was moving in with another man and Ianto would have his house to himself again, something he wasn't sure he was entirely looking forward to. But on this particular morning he couldn't wait.

'I need you to get them dressed and make them lunch. They both had a bath last night, so they shouldn't need one this morning. Also, don't let Finlay forget his homework. It's on your desk.'

Ianto made a grunting noise in the back of his throat, struggling to open his eyes and look at his sister.

'Ianto?'

'I'm getting up,' said Ianto as he dragged himself to his feet. He took one glimpse of himself in the mirror before heading towards the bathroom. He'd need a cold shower if he was going to stay awake long enough to drive the kids to school.

Rhiannon was gone when he emerged into the hallway fifteen minutes later, dressed in jeans and a t-shirt. Work wasn't something he had to think about today - unless the world decided to end - so he'd resorted to the scruffy look of someone who hadn't slept properly in a week. He hadn't even shaved.

Finlay had made it as far as the living room where he was happily watching cartoons, while his sister, Rona, had yet to leave her bedroom. Ianto assembled Rona's school uniform from the suitcase at the end of the bed and left her trying to dress Barbie with it. He did the same with Finn's clothes before he went to go and chivvy his nephew.

'Finlay, go and get dressed,' said Ianto as he switched the television off.

'Can I have chocolate spread sandwiches for lunch?'

This was how Ianto's relationship with his nephew worked nowadays. Ianto demanded he do something and Finlay would set up an ultimatum that Ianto would certainly bow to. It made him glad that he wasn't going to be sharing living space with Finlay through his teenage years.

'If you go and get dressed.' He watched Finlay streaking off up the stairs before heading towards the kitchen. The fridge was practically devoid of food. The only milk in the house was banana in flavour so Ianto had his coffee black and then had a five-minute argument with Rona about why she couldn't have Coco Pops for breakfast. There was no bread but for the mouldy remainder of crusts that even he wouldn't eat in his ravenous state. He fed the kids Poptarts and watched them hungrily as his black coffee burnt the taste buds from his tongue.

'We'll pop in to Tesco Express on the way to school,' Ianto told the kids as he dropped the mouldy bread in the bin. He collected Finlay's homework from the study, only to find Rona had decided to use this month's credit card statement that he had yet to pay as drawing paper last night. He sighed, rubbing a hand down his face before helping Rona on with her shoes.

'Why isn't Mummy taking us to school?' Rona asked as Ianto went from room to room searching for his car keys, Barbie dragged behind them by her hair.

'Because Mummy has to go and sort out things at the new house for you,' Ianto told her as he rifled through yesterday's trouser pockets. He found the keys for the Hub, one pound fifteen in change and a post-it note from Jack that wasn't really meant for public consumption, but no car keys.

'That's why we had to pack all our toys away,' Finn told her as he came out of the bathroom, toothpaste smeared down the front of his school sweater. Ianto sighed.

'Finn, go change your jumper.'

'Mam packed them.'

'Well go and find the box they're packed in and get a clean one out. You can't go to school like that.'

Finlay stomped off to the bedroom at the end of the hall.

'How come all your stuff isn't packed up, Uncle Ianto?' Rona asked as she brushed Barbie's hair with her fingers.

'Because it's just you, Finn and Mummy that are moving.'

'Can't we leave Finn here, and you can come and live with me and Mummy instead?' Rona asked. 'And Uncle Jack too, if you want.'

Ianto had to try hard not to laugh as he started pulling clothes out of the washing hamper in search of his car keys. All he found was the change Jack had forgotten to take out of his trousers before putting them in the wash the day before.

'I need to stay here because you, Mummy and Finn are moving in with Ryan. You like Ryan, don't you?'

'He doesn't do the voices right when he reads me Harry Potter,' Rona complained.

'Well, maybe I'll still come over and read you Harry Potter,' said Ianto, moving past Rona to go and check the fridge because he was that tired he was willing to believe he'd been stupid enough to put the keys in the fridge when he'd gone in search of sustenance.

'Finn, have you found a jumper yet?' Ianto called as he ran down the stairs.

'Mam's labelled the boxes all wrong!' Finn called back. Ianto didn't think his sister was capable of labelling things wrongly; it was more likely his nephew's inability to read things properly that had him looking through a box full of crockery for his school uniform.

'Try in the suitcase on your mum's bed!' Ianto yelled back, checking the hook by the front door in case for once he'd been smart enough to hang the keys up on his way in the door. No such luck. His eye caught the clock on the wall that proclaimed it was already twenty past eight. They should have left ten minutes ago, and he still hadn't got any lunch for the kids.

Five minutes later and Ianto was pushing the kids between the raindrops to his car, Finn now with a clean jumper on. Rona had found his keys when she'd gone to feed Fred and George – her goldfish. Ianto didn't even want to think about how the car keys had got in the tank. Amazingly, though, the key fob still worked.

He parked on a double yellow line and told the kids to stay in the car while he nipped into Tesco Express to get them lunch. The delivery truck hadn't been yet so he had to get them both questionable cheese and spring onion sandwiches, which Finn immediately turned his nose up at.

'That's not chocolate spread,' he informed Ianto. Ianto was more interested in the yellow bit of paper flapping in the wind and rain under the windscreen wiper.

'A nice lady with a black and yellow jacket on left you a note,' Rona told Ianto from the backseat. It was a parking ticket to the sum of £60. Ianto stuffed it in the glove compartment to deal with later. The kids, as he predicted, were late for school. He didn't so much as get a thank you as the kids bolted from the car and ran across the playground before disappearing out of sight.

Ianto decided that since he was already up he might as well replenish his fridge before heading back to the chaos that moving day would bestow upon his house. On his way to the supermarket, though, the car shuddered to a halt in the middle of the flyover, jammed with early morning traffic. (The mechanic would later tell him at the extortionately overpriced garage that his engine had overheated from all the stopping and starting because his thermostat was gone. He would then inform Ianto that he couldn't fix it until tomorrow.)

Once Ianto had finished swearing bloody murder, he pulled his jacket tight about him and emerged from his car into the rain, thankful that he had managed to pull far enough into the hard shoulder that the HGV currently passing didn't flatten him, but only managed to drench him further. After careful contemplation while staring at the engine through the steam and rain his novice opinion was that it was fucked, and he called for the AA. Almost as soon as he'd hung up with the promise that there'd be someone with him in the next half an hour his phone rang.

'Hello?'

'Hey, Ianto, sorry to wake you up, but we've got a situation.' Jack, who sounded only slightly more awake than Ianto felt.

'I was already awake.'

'Good, we've got a bit of a Weevil problem over in Penarth. They're growing up and starting to run in gangs now. Care to lend a hand?'

'Yeah, I'll-'

'Great, meet me at The Old Custom House.' Jack hung up before Ianto had a chance to reply, and by the time he'd thought about calling Jack back the battery on his phone died. Ianto was left to stand at the side of the road waiting for the 4th emergency service. When they did turn up Ianto was seriously considering writing to head office to ask them if they knew the meaning of the word emergency, and threatening to sue for false advertising.

It took him almost an hour to walk from the garage he and his car had been abandoned at to fend for themselves to Penarth. He would have forked out for a taxi had he any cash on him but after purchasing questionable sandwiches from Tesco Express that morning all he had to his name was twenty-eight pence in coppers. By the time he got there his hair was plastered to his forehead, he had a serious case of rising damp, and he was quite sure that even under his coat, his t-shirt, and his jeans, his underwear was wet as well.

He found the SUV in the car park of The Old Custom House - half abandoned, half parked - but Jack was nowhere in sight. Ianto sighed, turning in a half circle, trying to take a stab in the dark as to where Jack might be before he took a chance and tried the door to the SUV. Predictably, it was open. Jack had no sense of security when it came to the SUV, and it was a wonder that it hadn't been stolen before now – unless you counted that time that Owen had left the keys in when they'd been out in the Brecon's. Ianto shuddered, whether from the rain or the memory he wasn't sure.

Ianto shut the passenger door behind him, shaking his head slightly and spraying the upholstery in water. He didn't care. He'd be the one to clean it out later on anyway. He fiddled with a few buttons on the dashboard, trying to get the heater working and switch on the tracker for Jack's phone at the same time when the driver's door burst open and a soaking wet Jack jumped in.

'Thought you'd ditched me?' Jack asked, shaking his own head like a dog to try and get the water out his eyes. Jack looked like he'd taken a running jump off the barrage.

'Car broke down. Battery died. Had to walk,' said Ianto as he continued to try and adjust the heating vents, hoping that the feeling came back into his fingers sometime soon.

'Sounds like a fun morning. Pretty sure I can top it, though.' Ianto raised his eyebrows in question. 'I finally discovered for certain that Weevils can't swim,' Jack said, and as if to prove his point started wringing out the bottom of his trousers into the foot well. Ianto frowned.

'So you don't need me after all then?'

Jack didn't look up. 'Only one of them can't swim. There's still another four playing tag in the trees behind the pub.'

Ianto sighed. 'Right.' It took a moment before he was able to move, lethargic limbs heavier than usual, encased in sodden fabric. He blinked a couple of times out the front windscreen at the rain lashing down onto the tarmac of the empty car park. He tried to relish the little bubble of warmth inside the car before he pushed the door open and hurried round to the boot, rummaging for Weevil spray and handcuffs as Jack came to join him.

'I could have called Gwen,' Jack said as Ianto slammed the boot shut, feet in sync as they moved round the back of the building and into the waiting trees where larger drops of rain plummeted from trees and shuddered down the back of Ianto's collar.

'You could. But you didn't,' said Ianto. Ianto didn't look at Jack as he started moving stealthily through the trees, but Jack wasn't interested in Weevils anymore, he was following Ianto.

'I thought-'

'No, Jack, you didn't think. You never bloody think,' said Ianto. It took him a moment to realise that what he had meant to say in his head he had said out loud. He sighed.

'Look, let's just catch these Weevils and then you can make it up to me,' said Ianto, trying to apologise without actually apologising.

'Fine,' said Jack before he moved off to the right, disappearing into the trees through the curtain of rain. Ianto huffed out a lungful of air and disappeared off into the trees on the left.

It didn't take long before Ianto was mud wrestling, and not in the way that Jack talked so fondly of. He could taste the foul breath of sewage and raw animals and it made him gag as the Weevil's teeth grazed his neck.

'Jack!' Ianto yelled for the second or third time. He'd lost count. He had mud in his left ear and his funny bone was tingling where he'd banged it off a rock that was now dangerously close to his head. If he had a free hand, he would be braining the Weevil on it, but both his hands were currently occupied with keeping the Weevil away from his jugular. Just when he thought the end was nigh he finally found enough strength in him to flip the Weevil over, bashing it's head into the rock a couple of times, which at first only angered it further. It was the third one that produced a dull crack and a mournful moan before the Weevil slumped in the mud.

Ianto didn't even get out a sigh of relief before he was thrown from his victory by the Weevil's angry mate. He collided with a tree, shaking his head to cling onto consciousness before he was back to fighting for his life. Thankfully, this time Jack heard his cries and between the two of them they managed to subdue the second Weevil. Ianto lay in the mud unmoving, trying to catch his breath for a long time after as the rain washed over him.

'Please tell me you've already dealt with the other two?' Ianto asked between hitched breaths.

'Both of them decided they'd take their chances in the water rather than wrestle with me,' Jack said, his hand appearing in Ianto's line of vision, offering up help. Ianto's muddy hand reached out to grasp it and with much slipping and grunting on Ianto's part Jack finally got him back on two feet.

'You okay?' Jack asked as Ianto looked down at himself. He looked like his nephew after he'd played football.

'I'll live,' said Ianto as he titled his neck left and right. It made a popping sound that even Jack winced at before Ianto was grabbing the dead Weevil under the arms and dragging it back through the trees towards the SUV. Jack pulled the now subdued and cuffed one to its feet and pushed it in the direction of the SUV.

Ianto was trying to wash his hands in a large puddle in the middle of the car park when Jack finally caught up, having already hoisted the dead Weevil into the boot. Jack chucked its mate in beside it where it started to bray mournfully. Jack slammed the boot on it. He had no patience or sympathy at the moment.

'A shower would be better,' said Jack, watching Ianto who was now scuffing his boots in the puddle to try and rid them of mud too, not that it would help much considering Ianto was caked head to foot in the stuff. Jack's phone was ringing in his pocket now.

'Am I going to get one?' Ianto asked as he crossed back over to the SUV, more to himself than Jack, because Jack was now trying to talk to the head of UNIT about a meeting he'd supposedly missed.

* * *

'Why don't you just stay here for the rest of today?'

'And do what? File? Tidy up? Not really much of a day off, is it?' Ianto said. He was busy trying to towel dry his hair and pawing through Jack's wardrobe for dry clothes. He'd managed to find a pair of jeans he thought he'd lost, but was apparently fresh out of clean shirts. He'd have to steal one of Jack's and hope that his jacket had dried enough for him to brush some of the mud off of it.

'I wasn't suggesting you work,' said Jack, coming out of the shower with a towel wrapped round his waist, shaking his head like a dog so that water splattered the clean shirt of Jack's that Ianto was trying to do up. The distant sound of beeping permeated the bunker of Jack's room.

'Were you suggesting I stay and watch you work then?' Ianto asked even as he started climbing barefoot up the ladder into Jack's office. He pulled up the alert on Gwen's terminal to find a body had been pulled out of the Taff near the hostel Nos Da, only it wasn't exactly human in nature. Cardiff's constabulary were scratching their heads, and as loath as Kathy Swanson was to admit it, she needed Torchwood's help.

Jack wasn't far behind, trousers and t-shirt on, but equally barefooted as he tried to hop from one foot to the other, looking over Ianto's shoulder at the screen. Jack's phone was ringing and Ianto was already heading back towards Jack's office to see if his shoes had dried out any.

* * *

'Backlog at the dry cleaners?' Swanson asked as she eyed Ianto up and down dressed in a mismatch of his and Jack's clothes. Jack had disappeared off down the riverbank with a couple of coppers both with angular features that made Ianto think of Ratty and Moley from _Wind In The Willows_. That had left Ianto to tow the line with Kathy Swanson.

'Something like that,' Ianto commented as he watched a couple of the SOCO lads going by with cups of coffee. Ianto made do with turning the collar of his coat up against the horizontal rain and tried to step further under Kathy's umbrella without looking too suspicious.

'Where's Cooper?' Swanson asked, accepting her own coffee form a passing constable.

'Day off.'

'Oh, so you lot do function like normal human beings then,' Kathy said. Ianto wanted to make some sarcastic comment about recharging batteries, but Jack was already scrambling back up the bank towards them.

'We'll take it,' he said, like the dead body was some kind of rare antique he and Ianto were taking home to put on the mantelpiece. Ianto stepped out from the shelter of Kathy's umbrella to go and fetch a body bag from the SUV while Jack argued with Swanson over the custody of the alien body.

* * *

'Here,' Ianto said as he got back in the car, chucking a greasy paper bag into Jack's lap. Ianto stuck his own bacon sandwich between his teeth while he did up his seatbelt.

'No ketchup?'

Ianto glared and Jack threw his butty on the dashboard while he started up the SUV again and pulled out into the late lunchtime flow of traffic. The news on the radio was talking about a bomb scare at the Sorting Office off Hadfield Road causing major congestion on Penarth and Corporation Road.

It irked Ianto somewhat that Jack drove straight back to the Hub, not even bothering to offer to drop Ianto off at home where he was supposed to be having a mundane day off, cleaning out his fridge and being pestered by his sister to help them move. Instead he had to help Jack carry a waterlogged body back into the Hub and then sit and watch on the autopsy stairs with a mug of coffee warming his hands while Jack tried to figure out the humorous from the gluteus maxims.

He could walk home, in the pissing rain that didn't show any sign of letting up soon but the Hub was dry-ish and warmer than it was outside, so he stayed. Until, that was, Jack poked something in the body he wasn't supposed to poke and Ianto found himself in the shower for the third time that day, picking bits out of his hair that he didn't really want to think about.

'I'm going home,' said Ianto when he'd re-dressed in another of Jack's shirts, grateful somewhat that his jeans hadn't been lost in the attack.

'But-'

'Is the world ending?'

Jack seemed to consider this question thoroughly before answering. 'Not yet.'

'Well then you don't need me, do you?' Ianto asked rhetorically, already turning his back on Jack to head home. He'd had enough of Monday already. He didn't particularly want to go home to face the hell that was moving day, but he didn't want to spend the rest of his day off moping around the cold hub in damp underwear while Jack made lewd suggestions.

'I'm tired too, you know,' Jack yelled after him. The cog door rolled open at that point, admitting a damp looking Gwen who was shaking water from her feeble looking umbrella.

'Bloody awful out there,' Gwen said by way of greeting. Ianto didn't acknowledge her, was already taking the stairs two at a time back up to the Tourist Office because the lift would not take him away fast enough. He heard Gwen's voice echoing softly up to him as the cog door rolled shut.

'Everything all right?'

_No_, Ianto thought, _it's not sodding all right_.

His phone chirruped at him as he lingered on the threshold of the Tourist Office having borrowed Gwen's phone charger to restore some life into his ailing phone. He looked out at the grey day, the few tourists that were waiting on the waterbus wrapped in cagoules when they should have been wearing sowesters and galoshes. Cawallders, the ice cream shop on the boardwalk above, was devoid of life. He wanted to postpone the moment he had to go back to being cold and wet for as long as possible.

One text message, surprisingly not from Jack.

_Rhiannon (mobile)  
2nd Feb 14:38:37  
Having problems. Cld you get kids 4rm skool? Ta. R x_

Ianto had learned many years ago to see past Rhiannon's punctuation. For all it looked like a question mark at the end of the sentence, it was in actual fact an exclamation mark that suggested at the brevity of the situation if Ianto did not pick the kids up from school. He sighed and texted back. A minute later as he was walking up the Plass, the rain soaking the back of his jeans, his sister replied.

_Rhiannon (mobile)  
2nd Feb 14:41:18  
Will get them later. Xx_

Later in Rhiannon's vocabulary could mean anytime between now and next Monday, while two kisses meant she was grateful, but she was too harassed to thank him properly. He wiped the moisture from the screen of his phone before shoving it back in his jacket pocket. He spent the next twenty minutes listening to the squelch of his shoes as he walked aimlessly through puddles on autopilot towards the kids' school. His phone beeped at him again as he was passing his road end, considering going to retrieve an umbrella, but he realised it wouldn't make much difference now anyway, and he'd sent the kids to school that morning in waterproofs, thankfully.

_Gwen (mobile)  
2nd Feb 15:05:33  
You okay, pet? Xx_

Ianto pocketed his phone without replying. He didn't have the energy to lie to Gwen, so he thought ignoring her would be easier. He knew she'd text back soon enough, more words, guesses about what Jack had done now, and suggestions of revenge to try and coax him into talking and when he didn't reply to that text she'd call. Gwen was like your mother; there was only so long you could ignore her before she turned up on your doorstep, a sort of worried relief in her demeanour while she yelled at you for not calling back.

He lingered by the school gates with the rest of the parents, smiling politely at anyone who looked his way. Most of them were probably cataloguing his description to give to the police if he was to take off with any kids that weren't his own.

'Where's Mam?' Finn was looking up at him from under the hood of his jacket, a muddy football under one arm.

'Still moving everything to the new house, where's your sister?'

Finn shrugged, spotted some of his mates further up the road and took off at a run, punting the football before him. Ianto rolled his eyes, turning back to look over the heads of children for his niece. She emerged out of the scourge of children a moment later, a look on her face that said she was after something. Ianto's phone was vibrating in his pocket again.

'Where's Mam?' she asked, looking up and down the street for Rhiannon. There was a brief moment where Ianto felt unloved, but Rona was already ploughing into her plan of action, clearly thinking her Uncle was more of a pushover than her mother. Ianto hated to admit it, but at that moment in time she was probably right.

'Is it alright if I go over to Jessica's for tea?'

'I suppose so, if it's alright with Jessica's Mam,' said Ianto. Rona was already tugging on Ianto's arm, leading him to the other side of the school gates where a woman roughly the same age as he was, lurked underneath a spotted umbrella. Ianto stood there awkwardly for a moment while Rona talked to her friend Jessica about pink and glittery things that were really beyond Ianto's ken.

'Hello,' the woman said, smiling awkwardly.

'Hi, I'm Ianto. I'm Rona's Uncle.' said Ianto, unsure if this kind of meeting warranted a handshake, so he made do with taking his hands out his pockets to try and present a more amenable front.

'Lyndsey,' the woman said, smiling again.

'Is it all right if Rona comes round tonight, then?' Lyndsey added after a moment.

'Yeah, it's fine. What time do you want me to pick her up?' _In my non-existent car_, Ianto added as an after-thought.

'Oh, don't worry. I'll drop her back. At the old address, yeah, they staying with you the night? Or do you want me to drop her off at Rhiannon's new place?'

Ianto was thrown for a moment, a little unnerved that this woman clearly knew more about him than he did about her.

'Eh, I'm not sure. If you give Rhiannon a call maybe before you drop her off,' said Ianto.

'Will do,' Lyndsey said, smiling again. 'Nice to meet you finally.' And with that Lyndsey was ushering the girls away down the street towards the car. Rona didn't even throw him a backward glance or say goodbye as she skipped away with her friend Jessica. Finlay was already dodging back through the dispersing crowd of parents and children to him.

'Can I go play football?'

'In this weather?' Ianto asked, looking skyward and getting a face full of rain as if to prove his point.

'Yeah,' Finn said, a tone to his voice questioning what was wrong with the weather. _Ah, to be young and full of enthusiasm again,_ Ianto contemplated.

'Not in your school uniform,' Ianto said, watching as Finn bounced his football impatiently.

'Aw, but Uncle Ianto, everyone's going now, and then I'll have to walk to the park on my own, and I don't know where my stuff is 'cause mam packed it, and-' It was clear this list of complaints was going to go on for a while if Ianto didn't stop it, and his phone was vibrating in his pocket again.

'The house is on the way to the park, you can all walk via ours,' said Ianto, fishing his phone out his pocket as Finn huffed and rolled his eyes in a scary imitation of Ianto before he turned back towards his friends, Ianto following as he answered his phone.

'World's ending,' said Jack. No greeting, not that that was unusual for Jack.

'Is it?' Ianto asked with bored resignation, glancing about for any signs of Armageddon as he followed his nephew and his friends down the street towards his house. The only indication that the world might be ending was the constant downpour that had begun later the previous evening. Ianto considered suggesting Jack get started on his ark, but held his tongue.

'Maybe not quite yet, but it's certainly heading that way.'

'Well you'll have to deal with it on your own because I've got the kids to look after,' said Ianto. There was a pause as Ianto looked left and right with the rest of the kids before they dashed across the road between the traffic, leaving Ianto abandoned on the other side.

'Right, well, I'll see you later, then,' said Jack before he hung up. When Ianto got to the other side of the road, he checked his messages.

_Rhiannon (mobile)  
2nd Feb 15:31:04  
Don't let Rona go to Jessica's & Finn's grounded._

Ianto looked up to find Finlay already halfway down Clive Street, playing keepy-up with his mates. _Shit.

* * *

_

When Rhiannon had finished yelling at Finlay, she predictably turned her wrath on Ianto. Thankfully it was slightly more bearable since Ianto was now wearing dry underwear that was no longer chaffing him in uncomfortable places and Ryan kept shooting him sympathetic looks every time he passed by the living room door with boxes to go in the car.

'You never told me,' said Ianto. He knew as defences went it was weak, but it was all he had.

'Well if you were here a little more often then I wouldn't have to tell you.'

'Well it doesn't matter if I'm here or not does it because you don't live here anymore,' Ianto replied.

'Is that was this is about? You're bitter about the fact I'm moving out?' Rhiannon asked. Ianto hated that his sister had an uncanny ability to manipulate arguments into ones that had been left unsaid for so long.

'No, this is about the fact that Finlay was grounded and I didn't know because you didn't tell me,' said Ianto, trying to steer the argument back on track, but he already knew it was too late.

'No, this is about the fact that you don't want me moving in with Ryan.'

'I've got nothing against Ryan! I like Ryan! He's not a raving lunatic!'

'That was one guy, Ianto! And look who's talking, Mr. I'm-dating-Captain-America!'

'Oh, so you're racist towards American's now are you?'

'No, just pointing out the fact that my brother lives with a stranger man than I do!'

'He doesn't live here!'

'Well you could have fooled me!'

There was a pause in the argument while they both restocked their ammunition and Ryan crept past the entrance to the living room again with another box while Finlay, quite wisely, waited in the car.

'Then what is it? You don't want me to be happy?' Rhiannon asked.

'Rhi, don't be daft, of course I want you to be happy.'

'Then what the hell is your problem?' Rhiannon barked. She reminded him of Mam when she got this angry, all temper and bravado that quickly failed when Ianto opened his mouth to confess his feelings.

'I'm going to miss you! That's what my problem is.' He was right of course, Rhiannon stood in the middle of the living room, nothing but hot air between them now.

'There was never enough room when you lived here, but it was nice to have something akin to normal to come home to at the end of the day and see the kids growing up, and I'm going to miss it.'

Rhiannon managed a disbelieving laugh, which grated against Ianto somewhat before she was answering her phone and her anger was directed towards incompetent movers who'd got lost. Five minutes later and Ianto was alone in his house for the first time in what felt like forever.

* * *

'World still ending?' Ianto asked when the phone was answered. Sleeping had never been an option for today.

'Not quite ending, but certainly in dire peril,' said Jack. There was moment of silence as Ianto stared out his rain flecked kitchen window at the washed out landscape of his back garden, listening to Jack's uncertain breathing down the phone line.

'If you come pick me up I'll give you a hand to stop it,' said Ianto. It was the closest either of them would ever come to apologising to each other, both too proud to admit they were wrong.

'I'll come get you.'

* * *

It was Gwen who rang his doorbell, trying to squash all of her body onto his front doorstep, underneath the lintel and out of the rain.

'Hello,' he said by way of greeting, slightly confused as to where Jack was, but then he heard the SUV's horn beeping in the street.

'You ready?' Gwen asked, huddling inside her coat. Her hair was already beginning to curl in the rain, fringe a damp mess. Ianto grabbed his jacket – a different one from the mud caked one - from the coat stand and pulled it on even as he stepped back out into the rain. Gwen ran ahead to the car and reclaimed the passenger seat before Ianto climbed in the back.

As soon as Jack had set off again Gwen was talking at him, filling Ianto in on the situation.

'There's a distress beacon going off in Trefforrest Estate, Pontypridd. We think that the body ended up in the river by there and was carried downstream to Nos Da. We don't know if our exploding friend,' Gwen giggled slightly at this and Jack shot her a warning look from the driver's seat. 'Yeah, we don't know if he was the one who sent out the distress beacon and someone else picked it up before we did, ending the distress, or if it's someone else from his species or something else that I can't think of right now.'

Ianto didn't bother replying. He was too tired to come up with his own theories now. The water running in rivulets down the window as they headed out of Cardiff towards Pontypridd more readily captivated his attention. He looked forward to Tuesday; already decided that he was taking another day off and actually spending it as a day off. Gwen was busy lamenting the fact that Rhys had a day off tomorrow and she would most likely be forced to work.

They split up when they got to the Industrial Estate, narrowing down the location to one of the disused buildings out the back of an electronic component warehouse. Gwen went to run interference at the tradesman's entrance while Jack and Ianto snuck past security to check out the location. The building wasn't the open plan warehouse like Jack and Ianto had hoped for. It was a maze of machines and crates and bits of electronics that had one point been destined for a purposeful life but now lay in ruin.

'Looks like the archives before you gave me the job,' Ianto commented, hands on hips as he surveyed the landscape before him.

'It's somewhere in the far corner,' Jack said, waving vaguely with the scanner before heading off in that direction, Ianto following.

They found what they were looking for sitting rather innocuously on a workbench scattered with burned out capacitors and copper wire. Ianto moved closer to get a better look while Jack fiddled with the scanner in his hands to see if it was harmful in any way. They were a few steps away from it when it started emitting a high pitched shriek before exploding quite suddenly, scattering debris and dust in all directions. Most of it hit Ianto as he turned away too late, leaving him coughing as he waved his hands in front of his face to try and clear the air slightly.

'Ianto, you okay?'

'Yeah, fine,' Ianto said. He reached out a hand for support as his feet moved independently of the rest of him, like he was drunk.

'You sure?' Jack asked as he grabbed a hold of Ianto's out stretched hand, tugging under his armpit to right him again.

'Yeah, just got...Something...In my...' Ianto was having trouble forming sentences now as Jack moved him over to sit on an upturned crate.

'You get a face full when that thing went off?' Jack asked. Ianto managed to nod, his head rolling slightly on his neck.

'Ok, sit tight, I'll call Gwen and get the bits. We'll take them back to the Hub and analyse them. See if we can reverse what's happening,' Jack said. He gave Ianto a reassuring smile before he started to move away. The minute Jack let go of Ianto he started to topple to the floor. Jack caught him at the last minute, lowering him the rest of the way. His breath was coming in short sharp gasps now.

'Can't. Breathe,' Ianto managed to struggle out between lips that were already turning blue.

'Okay, lets forget the device and get you back to the Hub,' Jack said, touching his earpiece as he did so to call for Gwen. He was already pulling Ianto back into a sitting position to throw him over his shoulder in a fireman's lift. Ianto was flopping about like a rag doll now, unable to help Jack as he struggled to pull Ianto's dead weight into his arms.

'Ianto?' There was no reply. Not even the harsh rasp of Ianto's breathing anymore. Jack cradled him with one arm, feeling for a pulse with his other hand.

'Ianto?'

Jack lowered Ianto back to the floor and fruitlessly refreshed his CPR training. He kept going until his shoulders ached and only chocked sobs came from him. It took Jack a moment to realise the water falling onto Ianto's face was not from the leaking roof above, but was coming from his own eyes. The harsh clack of Gwen's heels against concrete barely penetrated his awareness.

'Ianto.' Jack pulled the man up into his arms again, head cradled against Jack's shoulder, not a sound escaped his parted lips.

Ianto Jones was dead.

**...to be continued...**


	2. Chapter 2

**Monday 2nd February, 7:13**

'I need you to take the kids to school this morning.'

'What?' Ianto was peering out at his sister from underneath a pillow, one eye half closed.

'The movers will be here in an hour and I need to go over to Ryan's and give him the spare set of keys before that.'

Ianto frowned. 'What?'

'I need you to get them dressed and make them lunch. They both had a bath last night, so they shouldn't need one this morning. Also, don't let Finlay forget his homework. It's on your desk.'

'No, Rhiannon, this happened yesterday. You moved house yesterday.' Ianto was out from underneath the pillow now, rubbing a hand down his face.

'I thought you were working last night, not out on the lash,' said Rhiannon.

'I was working, I-' _I died yesterday._

Rhiannon's phone started ringing and she pulled it from her pocket. 'I've got to go, don't forget Finn's homework.'

Ianto took a moment, perched on the side of the bed, to try and figure out if he was dreaming, crazy or was just having a severe case of déjà vu. One shoe was lying in the middle of the bedroom floor and his jacket was lying over the end of the bed just like it had been yesterday. Only it wasn't yesterday. He switched the radio alarm clock on and listened a moment to the traffic report for Monday. He needed to call Jack.

* * *

  
'No, Jack, you're not understanding. I've already lived through this Monday,' Ianto said, watching Finlay channel hopping.

'Finlay, go and get dressed,' Ianto said. He remembered yesterday morning and the excavation that had been involved after Finn had spilt toothpaste down the front of his jumper. 'Do your teeth first, though.'

'Ianto, I'm sure it probably seems like-'

'No, Jack, it was exactly the same. I can tell you how the rest of the day goes if you want?'

There was silence on the other end of the line for a moment.

'Did you fall asleep watching _Groundhog Day_ again?'

Ianto sighed in frustration. 'No.'

'Pity the lottery doesn't play on a Monday,' said Jack.

'Jack, are you going to take this seriously or not?'

'Um-'

'Jack!'

'Okay, I'm taking this deadly serious,' said Jack, but Ianto could hear the smile in his voice. Jack wasn't taking this seriously at all.

'I'm going to die,' Ianto blurted. That sobered Jack somewhat. He didn't say anything, but Ianto could hear all the questions in the silence.

'We're going to go to a warehouse in Pontypridd this evening and I'm going to die.'

'That's not funny, Ianto,' said Jack.

'I'm not laughing.'

* * *

  
'So it's something to do with the canister, right?' said Jack. 'So all I have to do is fetch it without it blowing up and then we can analyse what's inside and figure out how to get you out of the time loop.' Jack was taking long strides, wearing a path between his office and the stairs down to the cog door. Ianto was sitting on the sofa underneath the Torchwood logo, gulping down too hot coffee. He'd dressed in a suit that morning, if only to try and change minor details so he didn't die in exactly the same way, if at all.

'You make it sound so easy,' said Ianto. Jack just glared as he retrieved his coat from the stand.

'Where do you think you're going?' Jack asked as Ianto pulled himself to his feet.

'Somewhere that you clearly disprove of,' Ianto ventured. All Jack did for a moment was glare.

'I'll hold down the fort then,' Ianto said, resuming his seat. 'And try not to die.' He watched Jack hurrying down the stairs and out through the cog door. 'Of boredom,' he added when Jack was well out of earshot.

In Jack's absence, though, there were still the other problems for the day to deal with, like the wet Weevils out in Penarth and that dead body that was currently washing downstream before lodging itself outside Nos Da. But Ianto stayed put. At least until his coffee was finished. He called Gwen, then.

'I should know by now that _day off_ is actually a synonym of _the world's going to end_,' Gwen said by way of greeting.

'Not quite ending, but I could do with your help. Jack's off on another case and there's a large group of Weevils over in Penarth playing tag between the trees by the Old Custom House.'

There was a grunt of annoyance from Gwen and the shifting of bedcovers. 'Pick me up?'

'Sure.' And then Ianto remembered that his car was going to give up the will to live sometime soon. 'If I can find Jack's car keys,' said Ianto, already making his way into Jack's office to shift around bits of paper on Jack's desk.

'What's wrong with your car? Or the SUV?'

'Jack's got the SUV and my car is no longer working.'

'Give me twenty minutes and I'll meet you on the Plass, unless you find Jack's keys in the next few minutes,' Gwen said, somewhat hopeful, but Ianto had already given up the search. There was really no hope of finding anything on Jack's desk.

'Unlikely.'

* * *

Ianto had been bitten by Weevils before, careless neglect had seen a half moon shape forever imprinted on his arm and more stitches than he could count. He'd been more interested in that floaty feeling of apathy afterwards as Owen threw verbal abuse his way. Now it just hurts, and it's loud. Because someone is screaming, and at first he thinks it's Gwen, but Gwen's mouth is shut in a thin line of concentration and worry so it can't be her.

He notices how warm the rain suddenly feels as he lies on the muddy ground and he wishes he'd not worn his suit today because the mud is never coming out of the pinstripes. It's the least of his worries, though, if the colour of Gwen's hands is anything to go by.

'I thought I told you to stay put.' Jack's voice was coming from somewhere and it took Ianto a moment to realise he's still got his earpiece in. He can hear the rumble of traffic in the background from Jack's end of the line.

'Did you get it?' Ianto managed to croak out, a wet sound somewhere deep in his chest followed by Gwen's pained gasp.

'There wasn't anything there,' Jack said.

'Too early in the day,' Ianto gurgled.

'Ianto-' Jack started, but didn't finish, because Gwen cut across them both.

'Stop saying goodbye to him, and just get here!' Gwen said, somewhere between yelling and crying. She'd already called an ambulance, but her resolution was crumbling quickly.

'Oh God, just stop bleeding,' she said uselessly to Ianto's neck. Ianto's gaze was now somewhere past her left shoulder at the canopy of trees that surrounds them and he thinks maybe it would have been a good idea to stay put after all.


	3. Chapter 3

**Monday 2nd February 8:33am**

'Right,' Ianto said even though the cog door hadn't finished closing over.

'I was just going to call you,' Jack said looking up at Ianto, the phone already in his hand.

'I know,' said Ianto, moving up the stairs. 'The weevils can wait, though.'

'How did-'

'I'm stuck. This is the third Monday now, and I'm fed up. I can't get out of this Monday. I wake up, I have the day from hell, and I die before I wake up to do it all over again the next day. Only it's not the next day, it's still the same Monday!'

Jack was frowning. 'Did you fall asleep watching _Groundhog Day_ again?'

'You made that joke yesterday, and it wasn't funny then either,' said Ianto. 'And before you say it, yes it is a pity the lottery doesn't play on a Monday.'

Jack stared bug eyed for a moment.

'How do you-'

'Third Monday, Jack. Third.' Ianto was pacing back and forth across the work area in front of the settee now as Jack watched him uneasily.

'Right, so lets sort out the facts,' Ianto started, but Jack was already interrupting him.

'Facts, Ianto, what are you on about?'

'Two days, two Mondays ago, I got up, had the day from hell and then to top it all off died, only to wake up in the exact same Monday again, only this time I didn't die in quite the same way, but when I did die – because this is now clearly the norm for Monday's - guess where I woke up?'

'In an institution?' said Jack, trying to joke. Ianto stopped in his pacing and looked at Jack.

'You didn't take this seriously yesterday either. Look, Jack, I need you to trust me on this, because I really don't want to be stuck with a permanent Monday feeling because I can't get out of it. So I need your help, okay?'

Jack made a show of keeping his mouth shut, gesturing for Ianto to continue.

'So I woke up in the same Monday again after dying, which suggests I can't die, or if I do die I go back to the start, like a game. This is someone's idea of a game, maybe?' He looked to Jack like he was expecting an answer, but before Jack had a chance to open his mouth Ianto was back to pacing and thinking out loud.

'So if this is a game to someone there must be a way for me to win. Logically for me to win I have to not die, yes? Which means I have to avoid everything that could kill me, like Weevils and canisters that blow up in my face. There must be a clue with that. I need you to pick something up for me. Later though,' Ianto added when Jack looked like he was ready to go at a moments notice.

It was disconcerting having Ianto rambling to himself in the middle of the Hub about repeated days and dying. Jack didn't wonder that the stress of Torchwood had finally taken its toll on Ianto and he'd snapped. Jack wouldn't really blame him, if he were honest.

'So maybe all I have to do is to survive until the end of the day, do things exactly as I did them on the first Monday, but just survive this time. Has to be easy, right?' Ianto was looking expectantly at Jack now, and Jack carefully straightened himself like Ianto was a wild animal he didn't want to scare with any sudden movements.

'Ianto, it's your day off, maybe you should just go home and sleep. You're probably just overtired and your imagination is playing tricks-'

'There's five Weevils out the back of the Old Custom House at Penarth. Three of them will drown in the sea, I'll bash the fourth one's brains in on a rock when it tries to have me as a tasty treat, and the fifth one you'll manage to handcuff. Kathy Swanson will call us about a body that washes up on the shores of the Taff by Nos Da. We'll get bacon butties for lunch and you'll complain I don't bring you back any ketchup. We'll argue and-'

'Stop,' said Jack. Holding up his hand and Ianto complied. They held each other's gaze for a long moment, allowing Jack to see the desperation in Ianto's eyes.

'I believe you,' said Jack, and with the relief of those words Ianto sagged onto the settee.

'I don't want to die again,' Ianto said, letting out a shaky breath. It was said with such pathetic childishness, but that made the statement all the more bold.

'No,' Jack agreed. 'It's not the most pleasant of things.' Ianto looked up at Jack again but didn't say anything.

'So, do we call Gwen in on this?'

'No, she'll come in around half two and complain about the weather,' Ianto replied, giving Jack a half smile that said it was okay, when it really wasn't.

* * *

Ianto made it all the way back to where he'd died on the first day, but instead of going with Jack and Gwen to retrieve the canister he stayed behind at the Hub, twiddling his thumbs and awaiting their return. Jack had been twitchy all day, scared that Ianto was going to drop dead at any moment, no doubt. Ianto had worried that he was going to jump in front of a bus at one point when they'd been crossing the road in Penarth, a bus braking just slightly too late. But Ianto was hypersensitive to near death experiences too, looking more than thrice before he crossed the road. He felt like a paranoid person.

He gazed round the Hub, noting everything in it that was hazardous to his health before his eyes finally settled on the greenhouse. No one really took much care of it anymore, not since Owen had died. Ianto watered the plants when he remembered, or had the time, but the past week had been so busy that he'd neglected it completely. To be honest, he'd been wary of setting foot in the greenhouse ever since that incident with that alien plant trying to bleed him dry. He shuddered slightly at the memory as he rose from his seat and made his way carefully across the Hub, deciding that now was as good as time as any to water them.

A lot of them were looking sorry for themselves, wilting leaves and bone dry soil as he reached for the watering can, turning the tap on in there. As he was filling it he felt like someone was watching him out of the shadows, lurking just beyond the edge of his peripheral vision. Something that was hiding just out of sight behind one of the bigger plants.

Of course, he realised when he was bound up in green tendrils that it was the plant they'd retrieved last week that had been watching him with hungry eyes. He struggled for a while before he was reminded of the Harry Potter book he was currently re-reading to his niece. He relaxed in the vain hope the plant would let him go. If anything it tightened its grip and Ianto belated realised it was more a Seymour than Devils Snare. It didn't eat him, at least not while he was conscious, but it squeezed him like a boa constrictor until there was no air left in him. It wasn't the most bizarre way he died, but it was certainly up in the top three.


	4. Chapter 4

**Monday 2nd February 8:33am**

'Ianto? I was just going to call you,' said Jack as he answered his phone.

'I know, and I can't come to Penarth with you. I'm busy. Sorry,' Ianto said before he hung up. There was one way of stopping himself dying and that was not going anywhere. He would just sit Monday out in the comfort of his own home. He'd told Rhiannon he couldn't take the kids to school, well argued desperately and then bundled them into a taxi just to placate her. Now he was going to sit in his living room for the rest of the day and not do a thing to harm himself. He'd retire to his bedroom when Rhiannon and the movers returned so as to avoid having boxes dropped on him from great heights.

Jack was already calling him back, his phone ringing trilly from where it was perched precariously on the arm of the sofa. Ianto eyed it like it was a bomb waiting to go off, but refused to answer it. Ianto instead focused on the postman coming up the garden path with an armful of damp looking letters in one hand and a package in the other. He was ringing the doorbell, but Ianto was ready for him. There would be no answering of the doorbell today, he would go to the depot when it was Tuesday and he was no longer stuck in the never-ending time loop.

Slight problem with that was the fact the postman was now knocking on the living room window, peering in at Ianto.

'Oi, mate, you deaf? I got a package for you.'

'Just leave it on the doorstep,' Ianto called back.

'I need you to sign for it,' the postman replied.

'Then take it back to the depot, I'll get it tomorrow,' Ianto replied.

The postman looked at him in disbelief for a moment. 'I need to fill out a form if I'm going to do that. Look, can't you just come get it from me now?'

Ianto took a moment to weigh up his options, deciding that the likelihood of the postman being a serial killer were slim to nil.

'Okay,' Ianto said, sighing as he got to his feet to go and answer the door. An unassuming postman in shorts and a cagoule stood there, a frown on his features as he warily handed the device over to Ianto for him to sign.

'You agoraphobic or something?' the postman questioned as Ianto handed the small palm computer back to him, eyeing the outside world suspiciously.

'Something like that,' Ianto replied, holding out a hand for the parcel and the letters. The postman handed them over and Ianto had already shut the door before he'd even turned to go back down the garden path.

Ianto was looking at the package as he moved back into the living room, carefully avoiding any furniture that threatened to lynch him if he got too close. The coffee table was currently the most likely candidate.

He scrabbled with the cellotape and the brown wrapping paper as he sat down in the armchair again, wary of the legs creaking ominously like they were going to give way beneath him and allow the chair to tip back into the glass table behind him, causing him to crack his head open, render him unconscious and leave him to bleed to death on the carpet.

He was so busy worrying about dying that way that he failed to realise the package in his lap was ticking disconcertingly until it was too late.

'Oh, for f-'


	5. Chapter 5

**Monday 2nd February 7:13am**

Ianto screamed in annoyance when he woke up that morning, scaring his sister half to death. She stood motionless in the doorway of his bedroom, staring at him wide-eyed as he sprung from the bed and launched himself at the chest of drawers in the bedroom. Rhiannon let out a little gasp of shock as he pulled a gun out of its depths, but her reflexes weren't quick enough that she stopped him in time.

All Ianto is thinking is that if he took death by surprise he'd maybe shock himself out of the time loop. He tries not to look at his sister as he pulls the trigger, but he catches a glimpse of her horrified features in the mirror and it's not a face he'll forget anytime soon.


	6. Chapter 6

**Monday 2nd February 7:13am**

'I need you to take the kids to school this morning.'

_Play dead_, Ianto thought. If Monday thinks you're already dead it won't kill you again. Of course, as rational plans of action went, it wasn't his best. Rhiannon was already shaking him awake, and when that didn't do anything she started hitting him boisterously with a pillow like they were children again.

'Okay,' Ianto barked, finally rolling over and promptly rolling himself out of the bed. Much to his chagrin, he didn't brain himself on the bedside table only to have to start the day again. It was clear that this Monday had already thought up a much more fitting end to his life. Staying put wasn't going to stop him from dying so he thought he might as well live out the day as if he wasn't expecting death at every turn.

Of course, that backfired on him when Finlay ran out across the road to get to school on time, causing Ianto to run after him and be mowed down by the car that was meant for his nephew.


	7. Chapter 7

**Monday 2nd February 7:13am**

'I need you to take the kids to school this morning.'

'Okay, I won't forget Finn's homework; I know the kids had a bath last night and I'll buy them lunch because there's nothing in the fridge. Finn's grounded and Rona isn't allowed to go round Jessica's after school.'

Rhiannon stared gobsmacked for a moment before she replied. 'Don't worry. I'll get them from school. The movers will be here in an hour and I need to go over to Ryan's and give him the spare set of keys before that.'

'Yup,' Ianto said, still not moving from the bed where he was staring at the ceiling with half closed eyes.

'Ianto?'

He sighed. 'I'm getting up.' He didn't even bother with a shower.

He didn't even try to explain to Jack today. He didn't have the energy. He moped through the day like it was never going to end.

It was the body that killed him in the end. The one that they fished out the river next to Nos Da. Ironic, really, when Ianto thought about it the following morning. (Still the same Monday, unfortunately.)

As it was, the wet body slipped from his grip while he was moving backwards down the stairs with it, Jack holding the feet. His grip on the body went and Ianto's feet went with it. He broke his neck as he fell backwards down the stairs, and Ianto had to admit it was one of the least painful ways to go.


	8. Chapter 8

**Monday 2nd February 9:42am**

'So what happens next?'

Ianto was bored of this game already. Jack had been asking the same question for the past hour, surprised every time Ianto gave a detailed description of the events that occurred moments later. He'd lived through every version of this Monday so many times now that he could detail the life of his postman.

'The car blows up,' Ianto said idly, staring out the windscreen of the SUV at a passing family huddled underneath their waterproofs. He could feel Jack looking at him worriedly.

Ianto sighed before looking over at Jack. 'The little boy falls and skins his hands and knees while his sister chases a seagull down to the barrage. Dad goes after her while Mum sees to her son.'

Jack turned to look out the windscreen again like it was some giant TV screen and the world was suddenly the most fascinating reality TV show ever made. Ianto was bored. Today had been a day where he'd chosen to explain that he was stuck in the same Monday forever, and was dutifully now telling Jack every intimate detail of the day ahead. Since he'd already experienced twelve other Mondays like this the novelty was wearing off somewhat.

'Can we go now?'

'Are we supposed to go now?' Jack asked, turning to look at Ianto with an extreme amount of enthusiasm that Ianto didn't think was warranted given his current situation.

'Kathy Swanson will be calling you in a minute,' Ianto replied, his elbow resting on the rubber of the window ledge, his head in his hand. 'Also we need to dump those Weevils off before they stink out the boot.' Ianto already knew he'd have to clean it out later, what with the dead body they were soon to be retrieving from the river, but a part of Ianto thought that today, maybe he wouldn't clean anything out. He was sick of the smell of bleach.

* * *

Ianto was impressed with himself. He's made it all the way to eleven o'clock in the evening without dying. A feat in itself since he's come close quite a few times during the course of the day. All he really has to do is last another hour and he thinks he's home free. He can almost taste Tuesday. He isn't sure exactly what Tuesday tastes of, but it sends a thrill of pleasure through him just thinking about it – so maybe it tastes of chocolate and sex.

He wonders what the weather's going to be like. He wonders which pair of underwear Jack will pick to wear that day and also what colour top Gwen will put on. He wonders if the garage will phone him with good news about his car, wonders if Rhiannon will invite him over for dinner to say sorry. He wonders what headline will replace the one about the MP's views on the timing of the roadworks in the city centre. The body in the river will no doubt monopolise Tuesday's headlines, or the disturbance at The Old Custom House in Penarth. Ianto's now seen Cardiff from so many angles he's pretty sure he could write the whole of tomorrow's paper himself.

So when it's late and they get a call to say there's Weevil's out at the Glamorgan Golf club, Ianto thinks it's safe to head out there with Gwen and Jack. He even takes it as a thrill to run across the eighteenth hole, stumbling round the last bunker for the course and remembering doing the exact same thing when he was a kid. He doesn't get caught this time and is now the one doing the chasing rather than being chased.

He's running down the street towards the sea on his own since he last remembers seeing Jack playing hide and seek at the bunker on the 2nd hole, and Gwen wrestling with her Weevil in the car park, trying to avoid the golf buggies. The sea air hits him like a slap in the face and it's not long before he's vaulting the barriers onto Penarth Pier, chasing down a Weevil that when it realises it's cornered will turn razor sharp teeth on the only thing blocking it's way back to dry land: Ianto.

They tussle like prize-fighters in a boxing ring, trading blows until they start using their teeth – Ianto isn't above biting Weevils in a bid for survival. But the boards are wet from the fact it's been raining all day and either one or both of them slips, it doesn't matter. They're both locked together in a feral fight that neither of them will win, and before either of them can catch themselves they're tumbling into the sea.

Weevils can't swim. It also turns out that Ianto Jones' can't swim either. Except, Ianto took lessons at the local pool when he was a kid, and his Dad threw him in the deep end on more than one occasion to see if the lessons stuck. But this is the ocean now and Ianto's in way over his head. There are no cracked tiles to tell him which way is down and no high vaulted ceiling with fluorescent lights to tell him which way is up. It's dark on all sides.

Ianto tries to cling onto the last threads of his life, finding calmness in the last waking moment before death for the first time. He watches specks of dirt trailing past his limited vision in his current underwater view of the world. He can feel his clothes billowing around him, pins and needles tingling in his fingers and toes and his lungs demanding him to just _breathe, breathe, breathe, please just breathe_ because his head feels like it's going to explode through the effort to disobey. So he breathes. Freezing cold water rushing past his lips to fill his lungs, like a thousand stabbing knives from the inside. But the feeling dulls, and fades. Ianto no longer cares that up is down and left is right, but right is still right because he feels like a superhero, flying through the murky depths of the sea. Alone.

He's not a superhero, because superheroes would have long ago figured out how to escape a never-ending cycle of mundane Monday's. Superheroes can't die either. Well, they can, they just don't stay dead. Because children worship them, and want to be them, and if superheroes died it would break their hearts. That's why Jack always gets to play the Superhero when they play with Finlay. Ianto's always the sidekick, always has to wear the smaller blanket as a cape and has to be rescued by Jack from the evil villain Flaming Finn. They always escape just in the knick of time, Finn complaining loudly but always escaping too. Even when they play with Rona, Ianto is always Ken to Jack's Barbie. Ianto realised a fair few deaths ago that he is no longer the sidekick in this tale, and it is not Jack that is going to save him, but Ianto's struggling to find the energy to hang on.

It's the first time he realises that what they say is not true. Your whole life does not flash before your eyes in your dying moments. He doesn't remember the smell of his grandmother's house, or the first time he kissed a girl, or a boy for that matter. He doesn't remember some long distant memory of forgotten summer days. He's not thinking about anything of any consequence, not even the hope of survival because there's always tomorrow. He wonders if that's what Jack thinks as he's dying. That there will always be tomorrow when he gets the chance to save himself again, and exhausted gives up because after that tomorrow there waits another.

He counts the last three bubbles of air he expels struggling up towards the surface, watching as they pop out of existence only a few feet away. His watch stops at one minute to midnight, too waterlogged to continue its feeble attempt to tick as the increased water pressure cracks the face. Ianto Jones doesn't notice. His heart has stopped as he sinks towards his watery grave.

* * *

_Dying_

_Is an art, like everything else._

_I do it exceptionally well._

**_Sylvia Plath_**


	9. Chapter 9

**Monday. February. AM.  
**

_Another Monday._ Ianto thought as the light behind his eyelids changed with the flapping of the blinds. It took a moment before it struck him that he'd never woken up in the sunlight before, always in the rain with the curtains open.

'Ianto?'

He wasn't alone either. Another sign that it wasn't the same Monday again. He felt relief shuddering through him in an agonising way and when he opened his mouth to reply, all that came out was a feeble, 'Ow.'

There was a laugh. Not a heart warming sound, but one of relief as Ianto's senses struggled back to him and he could finally feel a hand in his own as he blinked himself back to reality. Jack was there, perched on a chair, watching Ianto with wary eyes.

'You finally with us?'

'Did I go somewhere?' Ianto asked. He was confused now. He was glad that he wasn't looped in another Monday, but Tuesday didn't seem to be making him feel any better. 'What day is it?'

'It's Monday.' Jack saw the panicked look in Ianto's eyes before he added. 'Don't worry, you've only been out for a week.'

'So it's not the same Monday?'

'As when you got attacked?' Jack shook his head. 'No, you've been unconscious for a week. The doctors said you were in a coma, and they didn't know when or if you'd wake up.' Jack gave a small smile then, but there was something behind it other than amusement and relief, something bitter. 'Not exactly what happened, but it's the cover story we're going with.'

'You haven't been-' Ianto started, his eyes flicking to the coat on the back of Jack's chair, noting that it still had drops of rain drying along the collar. Ianto could just see the toe of his left boot, mud drying on the edges of it.

'A nurse called me, said you were showing signs of waking up.'

'Good,' Ianto breathed, grateful somewhat that Jack hadn't been stood vigil at his beside all week, but at the same time slightly bitter, because if roles had been reversed Ianto didn't know that he would have done the same. Jack was still smiling at him, his brow still furrowed slightly, not in worry, but in anger.

'So what's the real story?' Ianto asked round a yawn.

Jack shook his head slightly. 'Now isn't the time for a bedtime story.' He pulled himself to his feet then, shrugging his coat back on, a drop of rain flying out to hit Ianto on the cheek. He blinked in surprise before wiping the moisture away with heavy limbs. Jack's hand rested on Ianto's foot through the hospital sheets for a moment before he gave it a squeeze.

'Get some sleep, Ianto,' Jack said, voice not quite steady before he swept out the room, leaving Ianto staring out the window in contemplation, at skies that were no longer Welsh grey in colour.

* * *

They let him go as soon as they realised there wasn't a thing wrong with him. Well, let was a strong word. He felt like a drunk being asked to prove he was sober, the amount of cognitive tests he was asked to perform. When he was fed up of indentifying shapes and repeating his name like he was an Alzheimer's patient he discharged himself. He met Gwen in the lobby, clearly on her way to visit him, a bag of grapes in one hand.

'Those for me?'

'Ianto? What are you doing? I thought that-' she stopped rambling and hugged him, a sigh of relief escaping her. When she eventually pulled away from him, he indicated the grapes again and she wordlessly handed them over.

'Come on, I'll give you a lift home,' she said, looping her arm through his even as he started eating the grapes. He suddenly realised how hungry he was and grapes did nothing but irritate the itch.

They stopped off at a café in Grangetown full of old biddies supping on luke-warm cups of tea and nibbling the edges of Welshcakes like rodents, chattering away in Welsh. Gwen sat across the table from him, watching him devour the bigger breakfast while she stared mournfully at her empty plate. She licked her finger and picked up the last few crumbs from her bacon butty.

'Busy week?' Ianto asked, like he'd been on holiday instead of in a coma in hospital. Gwen held her composure well though, raised her eyebrows slightly before propping her head on her hand.

'No busier than usual.'

Ianto nodded, stuffed the last half of sausage in his mouth and then wiped his greasy hands on his jeans. Gwen let out a little huff of a laugh before she picked up her mug of coffee, her nose twitching slightly, because it is clear she had suffered through this week without Ianto's delectable brew.

'It was bad wasn't it?'

Gwen shrugged in reply, avoiding Ianto's gaze by watching the TV in the corner of the room, the newsreader lost in the low murmur of the café occupants and the sizzle of bacon in the frying pan. Gwen's lack of words unnerved him.

'Gwen-'

Gwen laid a hand over his on the table, finally turning to look at him with pale cheeks and glassy eyes. She forced a smile that Ianto's seen in more end of the world type scenarios than he'd care to admit.

'You're alright now,' she said. It was as much a reassurance as a statement of fact, and there was almost a question hidden in there too. He nodded, folded his thumb over the top of her hand and rubbed.

* * *

Rhiannon was waiting back at the house, like her and the kids had never left. She pulled open the door before he'd even got the key out his pocket, hugging him just as enthusiastically as Gwen had at the hospital and for a moment he thought it was maybe all worth it if he was greeted back into the world like this. When Rhiannon let go of him, Rona was hovering by his feet, waiting to be lifted for a hug, Finlay already clamped round his legs in something more than the perfunctory hugs of late.

Rhiannon didn't say anything about the last week, didn't ask after his health as she lead the way back into the kitchen, Rona clung round Ianto's neck. He struggled to walk as Finlay continued to try and cling to his legs. Rhiannon didn't even mention the previous Monday and the words that had been exchanged.

'I thought I'd make that chicken thing you like for dinner,' she said, already foraging through the fridge that had been re-stocked in his absence. Ianto didn't ask where Ryan was or if they'd be staying the night, he was already being shown detailed pictures of himself wearing skin-tight Lycra as he saved the rest of the family, including Jack, from Flaming Finn.

* * *

'Do you keep count?'

Jack didn't say anything at first. He just continued watching the kettle on Ianto's kitchen work surface, willing it to boil. Rhiannon and the kids had been here when he returned, but Rhiannon, sensing the uncomfortable silence between the two men, had been quick to usher the kids out the front door.

'Of what?' Jack somehow already knew what Ianto's question was, but he thought he could prolong the answer by asking pointless questions.

'Every time you die. Do you keep count?' The kettle was boiling furiously now, the click of it turning off before the bubbles died away. Jack couldn't answer though.

'Seventy-two,' Ianto said. Jack turned round to find the man in question folding a bill into ever decreasing squares, an air of nonchalance about him.

'Seventy-two?' Jack asked as he turned back to the mugs before him, pouring water from the kettle.

'Mondays I lived through.' A beat. Spoon hitting porcelain. Paper scratching on wood. 'Times I died.' Spoon hitting work surface. Paper folding.

'Ianto-'

'You still haven't told me what happened,' said Ianto. He looked up at Jack then, however briefly, discarding the paper before him and moving onto page two of three. Jack picked up the mugs he'd prepared, moving over to the table with them and sitting down before Ianto.

Jack sighed, opened his mouth to speak. 'It was Hart.'

'Ah,' Ianto said, a slight smile, 'wrong time, wrong place on my part then?'

'As always,' Jack tried to tease, but his heart wasn't in it. He picked up his mug and took a sip, forgetting that it was too hot to drink and consequently burning his tongue.

Ianto waited for Jack to stop making silly flapping motions, waited for him to tell him everything that had happened while he'd been stuck in a never-ending cycle of hell on earth, waited for the dull look of worry to slide off of Jack's face, but Ianto was running out of patience.

'So?'

**Monday 2nd February 5.33pm  
**

'Ianto?' There was no reply. Not even the harsh rasp of Ianto's breathing anymore. Jack cradled him with one arm, feeling for a pulse with his other hand.

'Ianto?'

Jack lowered Ianto back to the floor and refreshed his CPR training. He kept going until his shoulders ached and only chocked sobs came from him. It took Jack a moment to realise the water falling onto Ianto's face was not from the leaking roof above, but was coming from his own eyes. The harsh clack of Gwen's heels against concrete barely penetrated his awareness.

'Ianto.' Jack pulled the man up into his arms again, head cradled against Jack's shoulder, not a sound escaped his parted lips.

A heartbeat lasted a lifetime before a hitch of breath came from Ianto, barely there but enough to spur Jack into action.

'Is he-?' Gwen asked, not quite able to finish the question even as Jack struggled to throw Ianto over his shoulder in a fireman's lift.

'No,' Jack said sharply as he pulled himself to his feet, Ianto weighing him down as he headed for the exit. 'Gather up the parts of that thing and make it quick, but be careful.'

* * *

They took him to the hospital. Jack didn't know what else to do. He had little to no medical training and he didn't think he could take on the responsibility of keeping Ianto alive.

Inhaled unknown chemicals. That was all he could really tell the staff at St. Helen's. One of the triage nurses looked at him sceptically when he flashed his Torchwood badge while one of the Doctors rolled her eyes knowingly. Jack recognised more than a few familiar faces as they wheeled Ianto away, leaving he and Gwen in the waiting room, reduced to nothing more than worried friends and family, like the rest of the room's occupants.

Coma, they were told several hours later. Little brain activity. (Little chance of waking up remained unsaid.) They couldn't find anything physically wrong with him apart from abrasions on his throat where he'd obviously inhaled the toxins. Torchwood badges got them into his room where he just lay there, sleeping like Jack had never seen him sleep before. Ianto was normally all pointy elbows and cold feet in twisted covers when he slept, but now he lay in regimented fashion between the white sheets.

They didn't stay long after that. There wasn't anything they could do, and Jack wanted to know what the canister had been. Gwen had retrieved what she could find and had stuck it all in a containment box. There wasn't much left of the debris, not even residue of the powder that Ianto had inhaled remained to be able to test it. Jack threw the tray that the parts lay on across the autopsy bay after an hour of so of careful prodding. It clattered loudly and Gwen came to see what was wrong.

'Jack-'

'What?'

She blinked a couple of times, recoiled slightly. 'Nothing,' she said before she went back to her desk, researching owners of the warehouse, running through CCTV footage from the area on that day to try and figure out any way to help Ianto.

Jack was almost grateful when the call came to say that there were more Weevils, this time out on the Glamorgan Golf Course. He didn't let Gwen come with him, sent her home. Although he had a feeling that she never made it there, her feet somehow guiding her back to the hospital on autopilot.

* * *

Jack lost sight of one of the Weevil's on the eighteenth hole. He chased it towards the car park by the Nineteenth Hole Public House, gun out as he took pot shots at it, but this one seemed to be faster than all the others. When Jack got to the car park though, his attention was drawn by something else. He watched his Weevil dart into the road, heading for the sea. Jack briefly hoped the Weevil decide to take a bath.

'Evening,' the figured said, leaning off the SUV that Jack had abandoned in the middle of the empty car park and swaggering towards Jack. Jack turned his gun on the figure, but he was just as quick, both of them staring each other down like something out of a Wild West film.

'What are you doing here?'

'Came to see you,' John Hart said, leering slightly.

'What are you doing here?' Jack repeated.

'Alright, you got me,' Hart started then scratched the back of his head with the barrel of his gun before putting it back in its holster. Jack's gun didn't budge an inch.

'Thing is, got a bit of a confession to make,' Hart said. Jack waited, gesturing with his gun for him to continue.

Hart shook his head. 'I ain't confessing anything when you've got that pointed at me. I thought we were past the stage of shooting each other?'

Jack contemplated this for a moment before he dropped his arm, holstering his gun before crossing his arms in front of his chest, still very aware of the danger he was no doubt in. John seemed to be losing his bottle, though. He was backing up a couple of steps, looking about for a quick exit.

'Go on then, confess your sins,' said Jack.

John laughed. 'May be here a while if I confess them all.' Jack wasn't laughing. John shifted from one foot to the other. 'This one I've got in mind concerns your boy. Bit of an oversight on my part.' John stopped. He could see Jack's hand sliding back towards his gun again.

'Hey! Don't go jumping to any conclusions! It wasn't really meant for him that canister, Eye Candy just happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time,' said John, his legs already carrying him back towards the car park, but Jack had his gun out again and John, for once in his life, was like a rabbit caught in the headlights.

'Tell me what you did or you might find yourself lying in the bed next to him,' Jack said. His jaw was set, making an effort not to grind his teeth together as he stared levelly at John Hart.

John sighed. 'You remember when we got stuck in that time loop together?' John made a face that suggested he was already regretting his actions as he tried to avoid the stare of Jack's gun. Jack didn't say anything.

'Well, Eye Candy might be sort of stuck in the same kind of thing.' Jack's grip on the gun tightened. 'But it weren't meant for him!' John said quickly. 'Made a bit of a cock-up,' John said, looking rather sheepish.

'Was supposed to be for you.'

'Why are you telling me all this?' Jack asked, suspicion rearing its ugly head, as it was wont to do around John Hart.

''Cause I were hoping if I helped with the safe return of Eye-'

'His name's Ianto!' Jack's gun moved to Hart's face.

'Right, so if I help you get,' John struggled with the name for a moment, 'Ianto back then maybe you and I could-'

'If you help me get Ianto back I won't kill you, how's about that for a trade off?' Jack asked. John considered it for a moment, weighing up his very limited options at this point. If he played his cards right he might be able to wrangle a threesome out of it.

'Yeah, that sounds fair to me,' said John, shoving his hands in his pockets. 'Except,' John sucked air in through his teeth, 'might be a bit harder than that.'

Jack steadied his gun hand again.

'Eye-' Jack glared. 'Ianto has to get himself out of this one. Time Loop has a get out clause, Twenty-four hour thing. All he has to do is survive until the end of the day.'

* * *

'Is that it?' Ianto now clutched his cold cup of coffee between his hands, his eyes still riveted on Jack, waiting for him to continue his story.

'The rest of the week was just waiting,' said Jack. 'I threatened Hart a bit more, but he said he couldn't do anything. Said it was all down to you.'

'So you just let him go?'

Jack shrugged. 'Not like we could hold him long if I had taken him into custody.' Jack sounded almost apologetic at that.

'What about when I woke up?'

Jack looked away from Ianto at that, his own coffee lay untouched on the table between them.

'We haven't seen the last of him have we?' Ianto said when Jack didn't answer him.

Jack got up quite suddenly from the table, taking his cold coffee with him and chucking it down the sink before re-filling the kettle again.

'Probably not,' said Jack. The kettle had just started to boil again when he decided he needed something stronger and flicked the switch off before going in one of cupboards out of the kids reach and retrieving a half drunk bottle of scotch.

* * *

'Figured it out then, did he?'

John Hart was leaning against the SUV in the hospital car park - where it had almost been permanently parked for a week - like he was waiting on his date to give him a lift home.

'No thanks to you,' Jack said. It almost came out a growl. John could see the bags under Jack's eyes that spoke of boring books read in low light conditions at the side of beds.

'So, I was thinking, since everything turned out hunky-dory-'

Jack slammed into John with such force that Jack's teeth rattled where they were clenched together and the breath rushed out of John onto Jack's face, the SUV rocking back and forth on its wheels for a moment.

'Come near my team or me again and I will kill you. There is nothing between us anymore and never will be. Only in your sick deluded fantasies will we ever be together again, so drop the lovesick act and go and cause chaos somewhere that I don't care about,' Jack said, his teeth bared like a hungry Weevil, pushing against John one last time so the bonnet of the SUV popped beneath him. Jack let go of the front of his clothes and stepped back, allowing John enough wiggle room to get away, but he didn't leave as quickly as Jack would have liked. He lingered, straightening his clothes out, watching Jack carefully.

'Gotten a bit possessive in our old age haven't we?' John commented. 'What happened to free love?'

'Things change. People change,' said Jack, feeling like he had to justify himself somehow, to a murderer, a drunk, a druggy and a sex addict.

John laughed, started making whipping motions as he turned away. When Jack's head snapped up to look at him John Hart was long gone.

* * *

'You never answered my question,' Ianto said, shifting in the bed slightly, patting the covers down so he could see Jack's face in the half-light of the street lamp shining through the thin curtains.

'Hmm?' Jack's eyes weren't open, but his brow quirked slightly.

'Do you keep count?'

Jack opened his eyes then, head lolling slightly so he could see Ianto, eyes reflecting the scant rays of light in the room.

'I used to,' said Jack.

'But not anymore?'

'Do you keep count of the number of cups of coffee you make?'

'Two million, three-hundred and twenty-three thousand, six hundred and seven,' said Ianto without taking a breath. Jack let out a bark of laughter at that, before giving Ianto a questioning look.

'Why would I count the number of cups of coffee I make? Who would want to know that?'

'Exactly my thoughts,' Jack said, closing his eyes again as he settled back into the pillows. Ianto listened to the pipes in the bathroom clanging, like someone was playing the drums on them, before he spoke again.

'What number did you get to before you lost count?'

'Why do you want to know so badly?'

'I'm curious.'

'Curiosity killed the cat,'

'Satisfaction brought him back,' Ianto retorted.

Jack exhaled. 'A thousand. When I got to a thousand I figured that it was permanent.'

'You hadn't figured that out the other nine hundred and ninety-nine times?'

Jack made a disconcerted noise in the back of his throat. 'You satisfied now? Can I go to sleep?' Before Ianto had a chance to reply Jack was rolling over in the bed so he was facing away from Ianto. Ianto shifted behind him in the bed before a faint glow lit up most of the bedroom.

'What are you doing now?' Jack asked in annoyance.

'Nothing,' Ianto replied immediately. But the dim glow lighting up the ceiling didn't go away and Jack turned back over so he was facing Ianto again. He had his phone held up before him, pressing the unlock button every couple of seconds so he could see the screen.

'You expecting a call?' Jack asked.

'No,' Ianto said, pressing the unlock button again. The screen glowed brightly, almost blinding Jack for a moment before Ianto, seemingly satisfied put his phone back down on the bedside table, next to the radio alarm clock that now read Tues 10th Feb 00:01.

_-END-_

_

* * *

A/N: I just want to say a quick thank you to everyone who read this, and has commented on it, and enjoyed it. It means a lot to me when people comment on any of my fics whether they loved it or they hated it, so thank you. Always remember writers are like children, without praise we would throw temper tantrums. ;)  
_


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